Image source: CameraSize.
Some hot stuff is coming in January/February right before the CP+ show! Olympus will most definitely announce a new entry level OMD camera. And Sony will (finally) announce the new NEX-7 successor. Just wondering how Sony will call it…A3?
It’s going to be a busy time here on Mirrorlessrumros. Also Fuji (new OMD alike camera), Leica (rumors coming soon on Mirrorlessrumors) and Samsung (Full Frame?) cameras will be announced in January!
21 Responses
Does “entry” level OMD mean a E-M5 replacement or something lower level than the E-M5?
Peter F.
I certainly hope they are not bringing out a lower model E-M5, it’s a confusing line up already.
there were to be 3 OMD models
this is the entry level camera, a tier lower than M5, and M1
I am wondering which M1 features will go away.
Samsung could be the surprising outsider. I still hope it won’t introduce a ff camera, but rather a prosumer aps-c with brand new sensor, better than any other aps-c out there, and with features like huge buffer, ultra fast processing speed and the best evf on the market. We’ll see.
Samsung has surprised me for more than three years now by coming up with mirrorless cams that always lack something. Also: stories about Quality Control issues, inspite of few users, are not difficult to find. In the mirrorless segment it are Sony with its FF and m43s that are the frontrunners, innovating things and coming up with a portfolio that addresses the needs of a broad group users. m43s now can address the needs of P&S step-ups to semi-pro shooters, so the pro group I think is the one they do not address. Sony with the A7R especially seems to have done a very good job as well. Can’t come up with anything remotely similar on Samsung, sad as it is. May be they are good at the price but it comes at a cost…
It’s clear that Samsungs strategy is like their ps cameras for nx, they are not going to be any more than a ” 3rd option” for mirrorless users because they wont spend the resources need to over take the stiff competition and they know it. Why do you think samsung camera releases have slowed down while other mirrorless makeras have kept updating? They still have no flash system, no competent evf solution and availability in most places is somewhat scarce. Now dont get me wrong, i use Samsung nx still for now, but it’s obvious to me that Samsung is not one you should wait for a full system…it isnt going to happen. The rumored nxR is no more than just vaporware, a sign that samsung clearly does not want to go “all in” to compete. They are now content to be a 3rd choice. This isnt a bad thing per say, but for anyone who thinks samsung is going to go all out and create a full system, well theyre going to be quite burned.
Not from samsung, but there is now the metz 44 for nx, which is a very good flash. Synch up to 1/180 is not very ‘wow’, but not too bad as well, for normal shooting.
The only thing missing from nx system is a fast wide lens (the 16mm is not ‘slow’ at f2.4, but not fast either) and a fast zoom (but it would be a bit big). Then new fast primes would be welcome, like a 24, 35 and 55mm all f1.4.
But, even if that would be nice to have those, they are not so much overdue as a newer and better prosumer body, something with similar specs compared to omd-em1, panasonic gx7 or pentax k3 (which is not mirrorless of course, but that’s exactly what samsung should do in the mirrorless world, imo).
That’s not good enough. And IF you can even find that flash in stores. Samsung has scaled down its spending on nx and it shows. No point in me or anyone else who have bought samsung to continue on. Samsung can keep teasing about the nx r or whatever big ass lens they want too, it’s too late. The casual user who spend on nothing more than a body and one lens, samsung is ok. But a full investment? No way. And even the samsung prices for being a 4th mirrorless option is a joke, esp the camera bodies. Sorry, Samsung has got no one to blame but itself for not doing enough over so many years. You get what you put in. Samsung didnt venture very far, no it’s no surprise they got little gained. Too little too late,
Well, depends on needs, I suppose. The metz 44 is more than good for me 🙂
Anyway I agree with you on the point that samsung is not investing as much as it should in the mirrorless business. Or, better, it makes wrong investments, like those that brought to the terrible galaxy nx, with no physical controls, huge and ugly body and less photographic freatures than any competitor, for that money.
As long as it have strap & lens cap all that matter
according to my source, the new omd is a replacement for em-5.
I mean its between the em-5 and em-1
I think people seem to be missing the point. Olympus needs something to compete with the entry level DSLR, not point and shoots or professional DSLRs. Right now they’ve got nothing. The cheapest OM-D body is significantly more expensive than the cheapest DSLR kit. The PEN cameras are very overpriced and budding photographers don’t really want something that looks or handles like a point and shoot. Let’s face it, PEN cameras mostly look cheap.
The budding amateur photography market is really one of the few growth markets left in the photography industry. A market which is currently too large to ignore. Beginners want a viewfinder and something that looks and feels semi-professional, with manual controls (that they someday plan to learn to use) and without the professional price tag. The magic number there is generally $500 or less for the kit. Olympus currently has nothing for this market.
Olympus has to price aggressively to gain a foothold here, especially with their camera bodies and kit lenses. They need to get people into the system, and they need to get the right people into it. The people who will some day want to do more and may eventually shell out for a high-end prime or zoom lens. They have to put something with semi-pro features in the consumer price range to make this happen.
I have no doubt that mirrorless system cameras will eventually replace low-end DSLRs, and high end ones for that matter. But they need to push the right buttons to make that happen. A low-end OM-D is absolutely necessary for Olympus. The system is mature enough now, so it’s a good time to make this move. And if they don’t, someone else is going to beat them to it.
They did, it was called 43 dslrs. and they failed. And if they come up with another camera like that they will fail and lose money again. People dont understand that to be the champ you have to beat the champ. If you want to be one of the big boys, you have to beat them. Your cameras have to have the same features, they have to be better, and they may even have to be priced better. Nobody in the real world is going to buy a camera that’s worse than a canikon and pay the same or more…nobody. Until the bean counters in these other camera companies figure that simple equation out olympus will never make it past the tiny little player they are in the camera world. The fact is what they have done is not good enough and not better than the champs. The geeks can argue that here and debate till the cows come home, but the posiiton that olympus is in still, speaks for itself. Their ep flagship is never going to be enough, it’s best they accept it and move on, but they have already painted themselves into a corner with the m43 sensor. what is going to happen when the day comes where every ps camera has a m43 size sensor or larger? Look at the sony rx10, its getting there soon enough. and when the prices go down even more, what leverage will m43 have over ps cameras? Would any of the tech geeks here feel the same way about m43 when someday, the soccer mom has a ps camera with an even larger sensor for less than the cost of their highend m43 camera? the writing is already on the wall. the days of apsc ps cameras is on its way, and m43 will be bye bye like the old aps film camera experiment.
I hear this again and again from amateurs, that a larger sensor has superior performance in every way and is therefore superior. It’s silly.
Dynamic range, the same across sensors of the same generation, regardless of size. Canon’s actually lag behind the rest; even their full frame models.
Color depth has nothing to do with sensor size.
Image resolution…well, there are very high resolution sensors with a tiny percentage the area of a four thirds sensor. (Four thirds and micro four thirds are actually the same format. It’s called a four thirds sensor no matter which mount is attached.)
There is really only one big area where large sensors are always better: hi-ISO performance. And this is negated by the fact that you can achieve the same DOF as on full frame at an aperture which is nearly two stops brighter. That’s almost exactly the difference in ISO performance between the best four thirds sensor and the best full frame sensor. So with bright lenses, you can get exactly the same results (including identical depth of field) at a significantly lower ISO on micro four thirds. And remarkably, most lenses on micro four thirds and four thirds sensors are best wide open, where full frame lenses generally need to be stopped down for acceptable quality. So if you know what you’re doing, there is no full frame advantage.
But I wasn’t talking about high end cameras. Olympus has always tried to position itself as a premium brand. Their four thirds DSLRs had high-end pro features, incredible but expensive lenses and price tags to match. They were great cameras. Instead, what I was saying was that they need an entry level DSLR-like camera. You know, similar to the T5i from Canon. It would beat the pants of the entry level Canon if it had the same IQ as the E-M5, and at the same price.
Back to the point, the only ones obsessed with sensor size are people who can’t figure out how to take a decent picture. The rest of us couldn’t care less as long as we can get the results we want. Micro four thirds cameras are more than capable of this in the vast majority of situations.
You seem to be arguing that the bigger the DOF the better….. Sometimes maybe, but ask almost any amateur who wants to get “into” photography more & upgrade their kit what they are looking for & the answer will almost always be blurry backgrounds – i.e. bigger sensor – for the same budget they can get more blurry background with apsc than m43
I Think with all the Panasonic Models, there is a cheap entry point. The OMD Models are a Step up for Pana Users. Olympus has a history of beeing a premium brand. So I hope its the new E-M5
“”The OMD Models are a Step up for Pana Users. Olympus has a history of being a premium brand. So I hope its the new E-M5″”
The top Panasonic models have pretty much identical still quality and notably better video than even the best Olympus body.Olympus were a smaller player at the end of the film days. Missing the boat in very important ways especially with regard to AF. In digital they chose a non standard sensor size thus resigning them to inferior image quality to their competition.
Despite what the small but very loud/annoying Olympus faithful will claim the fundamental weakness of FT/mFT is the small sensor. We hear the one day mFT sensors will be “good enough” which is pretty amusing and rather assumes no other format will advance. You cannot cheat physics and best larger sensors of the same tech generation will always be better than the best smaller sensors.Then there is the potential for the Sony 1″ models the RX100m2/RX10 are within spitting distance of mFT and capable of being much more compact for what they are
http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors/Compare-cameras-side-by-side/%28appareil1%29/909|0/%28brand%29/Olympus/%28appareil2%29/896|0/%28brand2%29/Sony
@hsrais: your post has so many wrong points … first of all, before you start bashing “Oly fanboy” and such, I’m a Fuji X user so relax. Now let’s get to the analysis part:
1) OMD Models are a Step up for Pana Users. Step up doesn’t always mean IQ, there are so many more things in Oly OMD that makes it a Step up to the Pana cams, specifically, 5-axis IBIS, weather sealing (without this, Pana cams will NEVER become a Pro-grade camera) and much better built, camera quality wise.
2) one day mFT sensors will be “good enough”. First of all, its IQ is already “good enough”. THIS STATEMENT DOES NOT ASSUME THAT NO OTHER FORMAT WILL ADVANCE. What this statements says is mFT sensor can still produce “good enough” quality pictures while having an advantage of small bodies and lenses on the most versatile system. NOBODY ever said that one day mFT sensors will beat the crap out of APS-C or FF sensors.
So … really … think more carefully before saying such silly things.
I guess that Olympus is attempting to offer a camera that can compete with entry level APS-C format cameras price-wise. I guess it must fit a certain look (DSLR) and price to have a chance in the US marketplace at least.